Physics students host Astropalooza 2 stargazing event
January 31, 2019
Fairbanks area residents who appreciate the night sky have a chance to see even more beauty on Friday, Feb. 1. The Society of Physics Students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks will host Astropalooza 2, a free stargazing open house.
Viewers can hope to see popular celestial bodies including the Pleiades star cluster, the Double Cluster in Perseus, the Andromeda Galaxy, the sextuple star system Castor, and the Mizar-Alcor system in the Big Dipper. The UAF Geophysical Institute predicts high aurora activity that evening.
Fully computerized telescopes will be staffed by knowledgeable physics students. Armed with GoTo technology, the telescopes can automatically swivel and point to whatever you are interested in viewing. That's a boon to short-on-time amateur astronomers in cold weather.
Most of the telescopes will be the Schmidt–Cassegrain style. The compact astronomical instruments use a combination of mirrors and lenses.
Fairbanks stargazers can learn more from displays inside the Reichardt Building, while warming up with hot cocoa and cookies.
If the weather doesn’t cooperate? Physics students will instead host Physics Demo Night, with a mix of interactive demonstrations and other indoor presentations that will be sure to please audiences of all ages.
Astropalooza 2 begins at 6 p.m. and runs until 10 p.m. Parking for the event will be in the lot behind the Reichardt Building, located at 1930 Yukon Drive on the West Ridge of the Fairbanks campus. The lights will be turned off and the event will also be taking place here, so please be courteous and drive safely.